The concept of “natural capital” seeks to recognise the role of nature as an asset which is key to the sustained functioning of human social and economic activity. Examples of natural capital include clean air, water supply, plant life, animals, soil and minerals ...
Last Wednesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that the CFPB's automatic funding structure violates the Constitution. Because the decision calls into question virtually all of the CFPB’s actions since its creation, it has wide-ranging potential implications for all financial services industries. Please join us for a lunch-time webinar as we unpack the Fifth Circuit’s decision and what it means for your business ...
The Government of Malta reaffirmed its commitment to establishing Malta as a go-to jurisdiction for start-ups in its Budget for 2023. During the budget speech that was delivered on 24th October 2022, the Minister for Finance and Employment, Hon. Clyde Caruana announced that a one-stop shop for start-ups is set to be launched within the “Start in Malta” programme currently run by the Malta Enterprise ...
Three bills are being read in Parliament proposing new insolvency-related legislation and amendments: The Pre-Insolvency Bill; The Insolvency Practitioners Bill; and The Commercial Code (Amendment) Bill ...
On 6 October 2022, as part of the ongoing work of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework (“IF”) on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) to implement the Two-Pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, the OECD released its progress report for comment. Background The report was prepared for the purposes of obtaining further input from stakeholders on the administration and tax certainty aspects of Amount A ...
All employers in the UK have a responsibility to prevent illegal working which is done by undertaking simple right to work checks before an employee commences employment. 1. Why do employers need to know what IDSPs are? All employers in the UK have a responsibility to prevent illegal working which is done by undertaking simple right to work checks before an employee commences employment ...
Please be informed that new Federal Law No. 332-FZ (“Law”) was passed on 14 July 2022 allowing the landlords to claim from the tenant the average monthly rent or to terminate the lease if the tenant's commercial activities are suspended. The Law establishes specific conditions under which the average rent could be claimed, imposes restrictions on landlord's right to terminate the lease agreement if foreign control over the lessee is terminated ...
RENT UPDATE COEFFICIENT FOR 2023 Law no. 19/2022 was published in Diário da República (Official Journal) on 21 October 2022 and, among other measures, it establishes the rent update coefficient for the calendar year of 2023. During the next year, the annual update coefficient for rents of the several types of leases, both urban and rural, established in article 24 of Law no. 6/2006 of 27 February, which approved the New Urban Lease Regime (NRAU), will not apply ...
Loan facilities and bond loans usually include financial covenants, which are financial metrics the borrower/issuer need to comply with during the term of the financing agreement. The Norwegian market is dominated by maintenance covenants, which means the covenants must be complied with at all times. Over the course of a few months, geopolitical unrest, high inflation and prolonged supply chain issues have led central banks to increase interest rates and lenders to increase their risk margins ...
The Supreme Court's judgment is a landmark decision of significant importance in the arena of company law and directors' duties ...
Investment Zones are a lot like Freeport tax sites, arguably with more benefits, so are they friend or foe to Freeports? Background Liz Truss pledged to boost growth with “full-fat” Freeports as part of her leadership campaign in July 2022 and it sounded like all systems were finally go for Freeports ...
pMany development authorities and other economic or industrial development authorities in the State of Georgia (each, an “Authority”) offer “Economic Development and Incentive” programs for private companies which commit to make new capital investments that promote trade and commerce and provide new employment or retain existing employment ...
On 14 October 2022, the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, in terms of the Financial Intelligence Centre Act, 2001 (“FICA”) made amendments to the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Control Regulations, 2002, which will come into force on 14 November 2022. In terms of these amendments, the prescribed amount for reporting cash transactions under section 28 of FICA to the Financial Intelligence Centre has increased from ZAR24 999 to ZAR49 999.99 ...
On the 12th of July 2022, the Malta Financial Services Authority (the “MFSA”) issued a Consultation Document on the reporting of major ICT-related incidents with a consultation period expiring on the 5th of August 2022. The MFSA worked on introducing an updated major ICT-related incident reporting process that replaces the previous process that was communicated on the 25th of September 2019 entitled ‘Cybersecurity – Threat Mitigation’ ...
This week, BNY Mellon (“Mellon”), the nation’s oldest bank, announced it was making good on its February 2021 plan to develop the infrastructure necessary to serve as custodian for digital assets. Mellon announced the launch of a proprietary crypto custody software developed in partnership with Fireblocks, a digital asset custody, transfer, and settlement platform. With its announcement, Mellon became the first large U.S ...
With the end of the year just around the corner, it’s a good time to reassess plans and action-items. When reviewing your year-end estate planning or business transition concerns, there are several things to contemplate and review, such as year-end gift giving and tax considerations. Below is a list of items we’ve identified that you might want to consider as you plan for the end of the year and future transitions ...
On Aug. 16, President Joe Biden signed into law the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022. Although it garnered headlines mostly for its $80 billion commitment to the Internal Revenue Service, the IRA went a long way toward providing tax incentives to real estate and related industries. Selecting a few primary issues from the IRA, as with any large-scale legislation, can be a challenge ...
On 30 September 2022, the Foreign Exchange Supervisory Committee (“FESC”) of the Central Bank of Myanmar (“CBM”) issued Letter No. FE-73 (23/2022) as a result of discussions held during meeting No. (53/2022). The letter has allowed fuel import entities to make repayments of financing agreements in Chinese yuan (“RMB”) in a bid to prevent delays in oil distribution to consumers in Myanmar ...
The Guernsey Financial Services Commission (“GFSC”) has published its Guidance for CIS on measures to counter the risk of greenwashing (“Guidance”) which applies to all collective investment schemes which are authorised or registered under the Protection of Investors (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 2020 and to those responsible for preparing the prospectuses and other marketing materials of such schemes ...
It’s hard to explain to someone who has never been accused of a crime that they cannot use their own money, and this situation could last for months. Nonetheless, an institution exerting this effect functions under Polish law and can impact both individuals and companies This institution is the freezing of accounts. In general it is used where there is a suspicion that funds in an account have a criminal origin or are related to an offence ...
In June 2022, at one of the annual meetings of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs (“EPSCO”) Council, health ministers expressed their concerns regarding the legislative transition to Regulation (EU) No 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the European Council of 5 April 2017 on medical devices (“MDR”) and to Regulation 2017/746 of the European Parliament and of the European Council of 5 April 2017 on in vitro diagnostic medical devi
It has been a little over a year since the Financial Action Task Force (“FATF”), an international initiative established to combat money laundering published its Mutual Evaluation Report (“MER”) on South Africa in which it identified major “weak spots” in our compliance processes. The FATF gave the country a deadline of February 2023 to remedy all the deficiencies or face possible grey listing ...
